Unless otherwise indicated herein, the information provided in this background section is not admitted to be prior art merely by inclusion in this section.
In recent years, social-networking technology has gained widespread popularity and acceptance as a convenient way to connect and foster relationships with friends, family, and business colleagues.
In practice, a typical social-networking service will have many members (or “nodes”) and will store profile data for each member, including data that defines connections or interrelationships between the member and various other members of the service. In particular, the connection data may define for each member one or more social-network groups, each including one or more other members with whom the member is connected. The social-networking service may then allow members to share information, data, content, and the like with other members of their social-network group(s) in a computer implemented, virtual environment. For instance, through interaction with the social-networking service, a member may conveniently receive social-network updates posted by other members with whom the member is connected and may view profile information such as connections of those other members.
Once a person establishes an account with a social-networking service, the person may build one or more social-network groups by adding connections to other people and organizations. The manner in which these connections are added, however, may vary from social-networking service to social-networking service. For instance, some social-networking services operate in a symmetric manner in which a member may submit a request to “friend” or add to the member's social-network group a connection with a specified party and the social-networking service then invites that party to become a connection in the member's social-network group and adds the requested connection only if the party accepts the invitation. On the other hand, other social-networking services operate in an asymmetric manner in which a member may submit a request to “follow” a specified party, and the social-networking service then adds to the member's social-network group a connection with that party without formally inviting and receiving an acceptance from the party.